The First Time

The first time I sold a piece of art; I could not believe it. I was prepared to have a quiet little show, have the pieces on the walls of the local coffee shop and then fade away

Field of Daisys
S. Tschantz

When the owner called me after I had hung the works, but before the meet & greet that one of the pieces had sold already I was flabbergasted.



Someone forked over money for something I put together? What is this? Ordinary everyday people buying art?



But it happens.

I don’t sell art to big time collectors. Don’t know any. They would not be interested in my work anyways. I am not avante guarte. I don’t understand reactionary art. I take photos of things that interest me. I paint happy little realistic paintings of things that interest me.

But from time to time I do sell things.



And that is and will always be special to me. It means I have connected, even for a little while with someone else.

Still Life with Blue
S. Tschantz

One painting that sold was a little painting of gumballs. (Still life with blue) the person who bought it loves it. He hung it in his modest home in the entry so that when he comes in that bright painting is the first thing he sees.



Another person, a doctor bought a scene of a frozen creek, Icy with green slushy snow. That now hangs in his den. When life gets hectic and the pressures mount, that scene is there to as he put it “get lost in”.



These people are special to me.

Painting workshop

Sunday June 20, 2010

Sunday night, and here I sit in a comfortable chair in a hotel. I am in Boone, NC at the Best Western. As many of you know, Boone, NC is the home of Cheap Joe’s. Tomorrow I will start my painting vacation there.

But tonight I am in my hotel room. It is a very nice hotel room. When I got here, I was given a handicap, smoking room. Now, heaven knows I have enough problems, but most of them seem more mental than physical! But the smoking room reeked. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a smoking room, someone made it one, but I new I could not sleep there. I know the room would have given me a headache.

Well, Boone is also a tourist area, being right off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and itself a beautiful mountain town. All that was left was one of their Jacuzzi suites, so poor me, I am stuck for a week in a suite! Don’t you feel sorry for me?

I have been to Boone before, but not to Cheap Joe’s. this will be my first experience with one of their workshops.

Tomorrow is the first day of my painting workshop, and I am more than a little apprehensive about it. What if, when I get there, they discover what a fraud I am. Can I keep up with all the other, much more talented others, in the class. I am sure I will be the most behind person there. My ignorance will surely be revealed.

The workshop is being taught by Sean Dye, who has written several books about oils and mixed media. The title is “the Oil Experience”. It is billed as a hands on exploration of oils, but traditional and the newer water-soluble oils.

I packed up what I have in supplies, but I have not nearly the list sent to me. I tend towards a limited pallet, preferring to mix my own colors. So I am short most of the colors on the list, and the list is a long one. There is a list for both the standard oils and the water-mixable, so I am hoping I can substitute what I have for some of the colors on his list.

But either way, I will find out why he has chosen the pigments that he has. Why he prefers one color over its close kin.

Hopefully, I will come away from this experience with a greater understanding of oils in general and colors other artists choose.